The High-Flying Eagles Showtime Continues

David Finney | photo by Gian-Luca Fahling

Waleska, GA - Coming to a town near you! The Reinhardt Eagles High-Flying, Fast-Moving Road Show is out creating havoc in the AAC and providing fans near and far with high-energy basketball entertainment.  If you want to see half-court alley-oop dunks - they have it. If you want long-range, downtown three-pointers - they have it! If you want lock-down defense creating steals and counter-attacks - they have it!  Everything you want in a basketball team is in the Reinhardt Eagles Basketball team this season. It's a traveling roadshow and everyone is coming to see what the hype is about.

Thursday's opponent was Johnson University from Tennessee who brought in a reduced-sized roster for the game.  They brought tons of hustle and energy to try to match that of the Eagles. It did work for a while, but eventually, the Eagles wore the Royals of Johnson University down and won big - 98-69.  This was the second game in a row where Reinhardt was pushing the century mark for total points.

Kristian Collins would start things where he left off from Tuesday's game - with a long three-pointer. It was quickly followed by Tyler Smith's layup and the first run for the Eagles had begun. Around five minutes into the game, Jalin Wimberly gives a long pass from just over half-court towards the basket which landed into the hands of an airborne Tafari Thomas who threw it down with two hands on the left side of the basket. It was a devastating play that brought the fans to their feet, however, Johnson didn't let this have an effect on them as they worked their way back into the game getting it tied at 13 around the halfway point.

Josh Press would hit a key three-pointer, which he did throughout the entire game and this was followed by a layup by Collins, however, Johnson was not ready to go away yet. Nate Louis would have a dunk of his own around seven minutes left, but Johnson was still within three points of the Eagles. It would take all the Eagles contributing to keeping their narrow lead on the scrappy Royals. Keyshaun Street and Louis would make long three-pointers extending the lead to seven with just under five minutes left in the half. Tyler Smith would show the crowd his leaping ability by throwing down a hard slam getting the Eagles' crowd even more hyped.  The Brown Athletic Center had energy flowing through it for this late afternoon AAC game.

With all the scoring from the Eagles, somehow Johnson was still in the game as Reinhardt would only have a three-point lead at halftime, 44-41. This was a similar situation that the Eagles were in on Tuesday's game with Tennessee Wesleyan and in the second half, Reinhardt would go on an unmatchable scoring run. Would the same happen in this game versus the relentless Royals?

To start the second half, Josh Press would get hot and hit three three-pointers in a row along with a Greg Hobbs layup. This would quickly got the Eagles lead up to thirteen points and they would never lose the lead for the remainder of the game.  The point spread would stay in the ten to twelve range for most of the first ten minutes of the second half. The play that seemed to get the Eagles over the hump was when Dereck Lampkin found Jalin Wimberly on the baseline with a no-look pass, which Wimberly forcefully threw down like thunder. From this point on, it seemed that the Eagles found the key and opened the door to a blowout victory.  

Nate Louis would get the lead to seventeen right at the ten-minute mark and he would top that shortly after with a three-pointer getting the lead to twenty. From this point on, the showtime of the Eagles started and what was once a close ballgame was now seeing the lead being extended and all the Eagles getting in on the act. Jamison Syphore would pull up on a fastbreak calmly knocking down a long three-pointer next to the Eagles' bench.  The bench erupted in excitement over the shot by Syphore. 

The game was out of reach for Johnson at this point and the Eagles finished out the last five minutes keeping their scoring pace. Jamison Syphore would put the icing on this cake with a fastbreak two-hand dunk as time ran out.  

Nate Louis would lead the Eagles in scoring with 16 points and Josh Press would have 14 points.  The Eagles were able to get five total in double figures scoring with the last three being Tyler Smith-11, Jalin Wimberly-10, Dereck Lampkin-10. Lampkin was one assist shy of having a double-double for the game as he ended with 9. Lampkin also had 6 rebounds for a solid, well-rounded game.

The Eagles have about two weeks left in this season - five games, four of them at home. If you have not been out to see this group, make time to do so. They will entertain you while playing a good brand of basketball. The next game will be this Saturday afternoon at 5 pm when they welcome CIU to the campus of Reinhardt University.